The advantages of good dental hygiene are well known. Often, however, people either forget their toothbrushes when traveling or do not carry their toothbrushes outside of the home. Hotels, health care facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, daycare facilities, schools, airlines, etc. have a need for single use disposable or limited multiple use toothbrushes that may be economically supplied to and discarded by individuals without a toothbrush, a dentifrice and/or a water supply. Such toothbrushes could be used in vending machines or distributed in large quantities for simple, portable use from anywhere.
Various types of disposable, limited use or portable toothbrushes are known in the art. For example, some toothbrush systems have attempted to meet some of these needs by providing toothpaste within the toothbrush itself, through an integrated channel, for distribution through the toothbrush and around the bristles. This approach tends to be economically inefficient due to added manufacturing costs. In addition, the toothpaste in some of these integrated channel toothbrushes has a tendency to become dry, hard and stale. Furthermore, these toothbrushes require water in order for the toothpaste to have maximum effectiveness and for the user to clean up after a tooth brushing session.